What I know is nothing compared to what I will learn, and what I will
learn is nothing compared to what is knowable. That was the key thought for this week as I went into my second client
engagement, this time with a financial services firm. There’s just so
much to learn. It’s a little bit intimidating,
but even though I’m new, I can bring useful things to the table: my
questions and my notes. If I take in as much as I can from lots of
different people and serve as a conduit between them, then that’ll be
a good way to get started.

The second key thing about this week was reconnection. I pinged Michael Nielsen and Jennifer Dodd after I finished “Made to Stick”, which they had highly recommended to me. I also Cc’d Driss Benzakour, who shares my interest in business books. I had fun chatting with him when he called me to catch up. Gabriel Mansour also e-mailed to say that he missed my tea parties, so we’re going to have another one on Dec 9 (Sunday). I also had webcam conversations with Clair Ching, Kendra Castillo, and my mom. I briefly got to talk to my dad, too. Oh, and I got plenty of cheers and feedback on the first chapter of my book. Yay! =)

The third key thing about this week (ah, gotta love the structure of threes) was that I learned more about the power of stories. Thanks to

• a previous conversation with my mentor about passion for the business
• a corporate learning program on foundational competencies that mentioned that passion for the business does not have a formal curriculum or training materials
• a comment I posted on an internal article about social computing, sharing how people’s blog stories helped me fall in love with the company, and
• two books, “Made to Stick” and “Elements of Persuasion”,

I saw how the stories people told through their blogs helped me discover deep and wonderful things about the company I’ve joined, and how my blog can help me practice storytelling. I’ll try to tell more stories, and I hope to practice some of the things I’ve learned from the books I read. =)

My goals for next week are:

• Talk to other people about the experience of being new to a business, and write up the advice they give
• Set up the team space for my second client engagement
• Write Facebook tips for middle-school girls and help with other initiatives around the company, and
• Cook a nice, hearty soup. =)

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